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Zant808: 17+ years of psychiatric drugging


Zant808

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I know there are tutorials on other sites but I was wondering if SA had any tutorials made regarding liquid titration of Klonopin?  I'm feeling very anxious about screwing up the reductions.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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I just did a search and found this by "our" GiaK on her website:  klonopin-withdrawal-fyi

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

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I just did a search and found this by "our" GiaK on her website:  klonopin-withdrawal-fyi

 

This certainly looks like something I should check out with my compound pharmacy.  I'm not sure if there is a typo but coming off Klonopin at .1 mg at a time is still too much.  I will need to reduce .01 mg at a time so I can go slowly at 2.99, 2.98, 2.97 etc. instead of 2.9, 2.8, 2.7 etc.  Hopefully the compound pharmacy can figure this out.

 

Also, I'm a little over two weeks into just adjusting to the milk version of Klonopin.  I've felt horrible the past two days and I'm not sure if I'm sleeping anymore.  I haven't done any reductions or additions for any drugs or supplements.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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If the 0.1 mg is too much for you, you may not have to go to 0.01 mg decreases. Have you considered/tried 0.05 or 0.03 mg dose reduction?

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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If the 0.1 mg is too much for you, you may not have to go to 0.01 mg decreases. Have you considered/tried 0.05 or 0.03 mg dose reduction?

 

I'm pretty exhausted after another night of not sleeping well, so my math is probably off here.  For .05 I would have to get my pdoc to give me the .5 mg Klonopin pills?  For .03 I would have them use all 3 of the 1 mg pills at once?  Also, after talking to my compound pharmacy they said they haven't done this with Klonopin yet and needed to look up how to do it plus I would need a special script from my pdoc.  My main concern was this.  Let's assume I actually get a script for .5 mg compounded Klonopin.  If I have to go from 3 mg to 0 mg at a rate of .01 mg per day, that's 300 days.  Am I going to wind up with 30 bottles of liquid per month like 3.00 mg, 2.99 mg, 2.98 mg?  In the article, it seems like there isn't multiple bottles and it would require removing 1 ml.  But then that's where I get even more confused with the math since it doesn't seem like you ever end up the next day with a solution that resets to 3.00 mg of Klonopin that you can do further reductions such as removing 2 ml etc.  Sorry if that's confusing.  I didn't expect any setbacks this year since I wasn't doing reductions but now I feel like I'm dying again.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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Please post how you are getting the 0.01 mg reduction, i.e. how you reduced from 3.00 mg to 2.99  mg.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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Please post how you are getting the 0.01 mg reduction, i.e. how you reduced from 3.00 mg to 2.99  mg.

 

scallywag,

 

I think the basics of it would be this.  I would dissolve a 1 mg Klonopin pill in 100 ml of whole milk.  I would remove 1 ml with an oral syringe leaving 99 ml left so that would be .99 mg left that I would then drink.  I would then dissolve the other 2 mg of Klonopin in whole milk and just drink that amount.  So .99 + 2 = 2.99 mg.  Is this correct?

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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Thanks for explaining that.  Yes, what you've described sounds correct to me.  

 

To get a reduction of 0.05 mg, you'd do the same thing that you're doing to get 0.99 mg, except instead of withdrawing and discarding 1 ml you would withdraw and discard 5 ml to leave 95 ml of milk+klonopin solution = 0.95 mg klonopin.  Liquid titration is very, very flexible. You'll eventually want/need a 5 or 10 ml syringe.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for explaining that.  Yes, what you've described sounds correct to me.  

 

To get a reduction of 0.05 mg, you'd do the same thing that you're doing to get 0.99 mg, except instead of withdrawing and discarding 1 ml you would withdraw and discard 5 ml to leave 95 ml of milk+klonopin solution = 0.95 mg klonopin.  Liquid titration is very, very flexible. You'll eventually want/need a 5 or 10 ml syringe.

 

Thanks scallywag.  Sorry for the delay in my reply.  I have a bunch of 10 ml oral syringes and all the other equipment.  I've just been running into a lot of problems this month with depression and sleep.  I haven't touched any med dosages, so I'm not sure what's going on.  October was a lot better to me.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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Well, this month has completely and totally sucked.  Idiot doctors keep on giving my grandmother bad news about her health as well.  One visit they say she has cancer, the next time they say she is healthy.  And of course this affects not just my grandmother's emotional state but my mother and I hate seeing her being manipulated by these morons.  Where are the good doctors at in any field?  I have a cold now too which isn't helping me heal since my sleep is still out of whack even though I didn't change any meds or supplements.  I'm also having horrible nightmares whenever I get the small amount of sleep I'm getting per night.  What is the most depressing is that 2 years ago, I decided to try and come off medications again and I am in a much worse off position now than 2 years ago.  I had two inpatient hospitalizations (one in 2015 and one in 2016) and now I am on an additional medication plus supplements.  I'm still feeling very hopeless.  I may try to stay up for the rest of the day since I slept from something like 10:00 PM to 1:30 AM.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Zant, I'm sorry to read that things have been tough lately.  It does sound as if you are working through or dealing with the situation.  Hoping you get some more sleep soon.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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  • 3 weeks later...

Zant, I'm sorry to read that things have been tough lately.  It does sound as if you are working through or dealing with the situation.  Hoping you get some more sleep soon.

 

My sleep has improved but I have severe depression and no motivation.  The only forward progress I can say I've made is that I'm finally making an attempt to do liquid titration with reductions on Klonopin.  I only did the second day today so I'm down to 2.98 mg of Klonopin now from 3 mg.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Feeling up to making a dose reduction is a good step forward.  Let us know how you're doing with the Klonopin decrease.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

2016 sucked!!!  BOOOOOOOOOOOO 2016!!!

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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  • 3 weeks later...

Feeling up to making a dose reduction is a good step forward.  Let us know how you're doing with the Klonopin decrease.

 

First I need to say I'm typing this with what is probably a broken left hand/wrist with very little sleep and a critical level of stress, so this will probably just be an incoherent rambling.  Plus, this is a bit gross and graphic, so be warned.  I might do some post/edit combos so I don't lose data.  2017 has already proven to be worse than 2016 already.  Ironically this past Friday the 13th which had a full moon, things started to get really out of hand.  I'm caught in what I can only described as a warped and twisted game of medical issue musical chairs.  Early this year, I was sleeping up to 16 hours per day which isn't normal but at least it would relieve the stress of what was going on.  I have only done a reduction down to 2.75 mg using liquid titration although now I am holding at 2.75 mg by using just the pills and no liquid titration.

 

My sleep has been reduced to 4 hours per day since the 13th because of the chaos going on with my health and the health of my family members.  On the 13th, my mom woke me up screaming saying she was dying.  She sometimes has strange night terrors but this was something very real.  She kept saying she was going to die because she couldn't breathe, had chest pains and was vomiting.  I alerted my grandmother who is very ill as well and is waiting on us to help her get a biopsy to determine if she has bladder cancer.  I then called 911 and had her brought to the emergency room.  My stepfather is violent and has dementia, diabetes and all sorts of other ailments.  I had to bring him along with me while I drove to the hospital because when he is by himself he tends to do bizarre things in the house and usually falls over and he cannot get up by himself.  I have to pick him up because my mother does not have the strength to do so.

 

I had to spend to day doing things I shouldn't have done because of such little sleep while being drugged with the meds that make me sleep.  So I had to drive back and forth to my house to get clothes, identification, insurance cards etc.  A lot of the waiting depended on the results of a CAT scan.  My mom was diagnosed with diverticulitis, multiple hernias, panic attacks and a stomach virus.  What pissed me off is that she was given an injection of Ativan to calm her down when I specifically told the nurse and doctor not to do that.  She was also given multiple antibiotics, one of which was a fluoroquinolone which I told the nurse and doctor not to give her but they refused to listen to me again.  She was discharged and I was told to make an appointment for her to see a GI specialist.  It was a disaster getting them home because my mom was on probably 6 different medications at the time and she normally doesn't take any prescription medications.  Her discharge medications included Xanax, a morphine-like pain killer, the fluoroquinolone antibiotic and a non-fluoroquinolone antibiotic.  Trying to get both of them home was a disaster because no one from the hospital would even help me get them into my car.

 

I got both of them fast food which I really didn't want any of us to have since I could have just made something at home.  It was embarrassing like I was bringing in two junkies in the restaurant.  Fortunately I got both of them home and to sleep.  I managed to go to sleep myself.  Once the drugs wore off on my mom in the morning she was doing a lot better, but now my stepdad started doing a lot worse.  He began doing all sorts of psychotic things like peeing and pooping all over the house.  I was completely burned out from the day before, so all I really did was lay on my chair and watch TV.

 

The next day my stepfather's symptoms continued to get worse.  At this point, he was completely incoherent, screaming and was now drinking his urine.  My mom was alright until the middle of the night when she woke me up again screaming.  She vomited and had diarrhea dozens of times.  I told her that I would call 911 again but I wouldn't be able to head over until after I slept because I was so burned out.  She managed to make it through the night and said she felt better again.

 

Then on the 17th, everything hit rock bottom.  Apparently, while I was sleeping my mom was in severe pain again and there was a lot of yelling between my mom and stepdad.  I wear earplugs, so unless someone physically wakes me up, I'm probably not going to wake up from noise.  I really wish they would have called 911 themselves but they waited for me to wake up.  I don't know if I posted this here or on the other BB, but this is similar to what happened to when my stepfather had a stroke last year.  They waited on my decision as to whether or not to call 911 many hours after he had the stroke.  There's no medical logical in this family!  Dare I mention my forced introduction to Prozac as a teen?

 

So with my mom screaming again, this time wanting to commit suicide because of the pain, I was frightened.  I couldn't leave my stepfather in the house and he had gotten even worse himself.  He was continuing to drink urine and refused to eat any food.  When I asked him some basic questions to see how bad his current state of dementia was, he didn't know what city he lived in or the current year etc.  When I told him he needed to go into the hospital, he screamed at me.  I reached my hand out to see if I could at least get him to stand up and that is when he assaulted me.  He started swinging at me with his fists and then grabbed my left leg, twisting it and tried to tackle me to the ground.  Since he outweighs me by at least 35 pounds, I had no option other than to punch him repeatedly in the head to get him to stop.  He let go and he stood up ready to swing at me again, but I kicked him in the chest and sent him back into his reclining chair.  I strongly believe my hand is broken from fighting him off because the pain is non-stop.  I called 911 and explained the situation.  Both my mom and stepdad were taken in separate ambulances and I told them to go to a different hospital than the one on the 13th.

 

I was fortunate to have my uncle wait at the hospital while I got their clothes, insurance cards, paperwork etc. again.  So another long day was spent getting things in order.  I really hoped that both of them would be kept in the hospital overnight.  But again, it was more of the same crap.  My mom was given Percocets for pain to add onto the medical cocktail the other hospital gave her.  My stepfather should be locked up in jail or the psych ward after what he did but they said he was medically cleared and that dementia is not a reason to keep someone in the emergency room or psychiatric ward.  

 

<editing>

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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Continued...it said I could no longer edit...

 

After arriving home, I tried to relax for a while.  My mom is having an itching reaction from the Percocet so she cannot sleep at all and is crying.  I overheard my stepfather telling my mother that he is going to kill me as she was putting him to bed earlier.  That triggered me off and I rushed into the room and told both of them I overheard that and if he doesn't behave I'm going to call the police.  So I don't feel safe in my own house and I just lock every door when I go from room to room.  So all of this is affecting me so badly because I am in the middle of withdrawal from Klonopin as well.  I know something is really wrong because I cannot stop crying (something the Depakote is supposed to prevent me from doing) and the last time I was like this was in June 2016 when I thought I was free from Depakote forever but then wound up not sleeping, going crazy and going inpatient.  I'm going to avoid inpatient psych at any cost this time.  But there's so much to do now.  I have to work to bring money in, take care of my messed up hand, mental health, Klonopin withdrawal, mother's hernia surgeries, grandmother's biopsy, stepdad's neurologist evaluation so he can be put into a nursing home, deal with a possible divorce between my parents over the nursing home decision, the massive financial loss that will occur if he is put in a nursing home which will include having to sell the house etc.

 

I'm really not sure how to tackle all of these things.  I guess this is just a cry for help.  Hopefully someone can offer some advice to me because other than my uncle I have no one else to help me.  He cannot do everything either because he works a full time job that does not allow him to take much time off.  I reached out to my "friends" and they're responses to my situation are just "sorry about that, good luck" and I'm not even offering the level of detail that I've shared here.  Alright, I think I'll end it at that for now.  Sorry if that was just rambling or broke the forum rules.  Any ideas on how to even make the smallest shift in the right direction for my messed up life?

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Zant -- I'm so sorry that you've had be forced to go through so much with your mom and stepfather in the last few days.

 

Like they say in the safety instructions on flights: If you have to assist another person, put on your own oxygen mask first. Start with taking excellent care of yourself --  get medical attention for your hand, hold your medication doses.

 

Check to see what state, county or city social services are available where you live. When one of my parents was in failing health, they were referred by a doctor to home care. A case coordinator met with them and arranged for a visiting nurse and other assistance.  You may be able to get someone to come and assist with home care as you work through the medical issues and living arrangements.

 

Get a sturdy notebook that you can keep with you and make notes as you deal with all this. Write down everything -- names, phone numbers, ideas, requests and promises you've made, promises made to you, etc. -- in the notebook. This way you won't have to rely on a memory that's under stress and important information will be in one place. For quick reference in similar situations, I draw a line across the page after each note, and sometimes use highlighters either along the edge of the page to indicate which project or issue a chunk of information was about.

 

Sometimes friends and family don't know how to help. Making very specific requests, "be here for 2 hours Mom's nap while I go grocery shopping" or "come hang out with me and watch Netflix/"the game"/play cards/listen to music", makes it easier for people to help out. Difficult as it is, you -- the person in the middle of it -- need to become the screenwriter, director and choreographer.  Once I asked someone to help me make a list of all the things that needed to be done and to brainstorm who I could ask to help me with it.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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  • 3 weeks later...

Zant -- I'm so sorry that you've had be forced to go through so much with your mom and stepfather in the last few days.

 

Like they say in the safety instructions on flights: If you have to assist another person, put on your own oxygen mask first. Start with taking excellent care of yourself --  get medical attention for your hand, hold your medication doses.

 

Check to see what state, county or city social services are available where you live. When one of my parents was in failing health, they were referred by a doctor to home care. A case coordinator met with them and arranged for a visiting nurse and other assistance.  You may be able to get someone to come and assist with home care as you work through the medical issues and living arrangements.

 

Get a sturdy notebook that you can keep with you and make notes as you deal with all this. Write down everything -- names, phone numbers, ideas, requests and promises you've made, promises made to you, etc. -- in the notebook. This way you won't have to rely on a memory that's under stress and important information will be in one place. For quick reference in similar situations, I draw a line across the page after each note, and sometimes use highlighters either along the edge of the page to indicate which project or issue a chunk of information was about.

 

Sometimes friends and family don't know how to help. Making very specific requests, "be here for 2 hours Mom's nap while I go grocery shopping" or "come hang out with me and watch Netflix/"the game"/play cards/listen to music", makes it easier for people to help out. Difficult as it is, you -- the person in the middle of it -- need to become the screenwriter, director and choreographer.  Once I asked someone to help me make a list of all the things that needed to be done and to brainstorm who I could ask to help me with it.

 

Thank you for your help scallywag.  The most important thing is to take excellent care of myself.  Luckily my hand wasn't broken.  it was badly sprained and has healed already.  Things have fortunately settled down to much more manageable levels now.  There is a lot more work to be done but it is not compressed into such a tight amount of time anymore because I used your methodology.  It has mostly to do with my grandmother still being jerked left and right by insurance companies and rehab centers making mistakes but only my mother can handle that legally so I'm off the hook fortunately.  I'm down to 2.625 mg of Klonopin and got 7 hours of sleep last night so I'm going to be holding at that dose for the rest of February.  I'm back on the Raspberry Natural Calm, vitamin C and fish oil supplements.  Thanks again.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Zant, I've been wondering how you're doing and was happy to see that you'd posted. 7 hours of sleep last night is great!  I'm sympathizing and celebrating right along with you --  I had a great night's sleep last night after some crummy nights earlier in the week.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

Zant, I've been wondering how you're doing and was happy to see that you'd posted. 7 hours of sleep last night is great!  I'm sympathizing and celebrating right along with you --  I had a great night's sleep last night after some crummy nights earlier in the week.

 

I hope all is well with you scallywag and whomever decides to read this thread.

 

This month has been calmer with regards to direct pressure on myself.  However, it looks like medical negligence and a general "doctors are covering their asses with legalities and delays" may have cost my grandmother her opportunity to battle bladder cancer successfully.  I will find out later today whether or not the cancer has spread to other areas of her body.  The ignorance of doctors goes way beyond just psychiatrists.  Although, psychiatrists will give you a diagnosis in under an hour and prescribe you medication.  They are at least taking some action.  My grandmother has had this problem known since early December and because none of the doctors took action quick enough she has had to suffer more than needed and may not be able to win the battle against cancer now.  My grandmother had already beaten breast cancer about a decade ago but that was because the doctors took swift enough action where radiation treatments were a rather quick and easy fix.

 

As for my own health, I'm sleeping about 6 or 7 hours per day, still on a horrible schedule where I stay up all night and don't fall asleep until 7 or 8 AM.  I'm down to 1125 mg of Depakote Sprinkles, 25 mg of Anafranil and 2.5 mg of Klonopin.  It's disappointing to me that if I ever make it off these medications it won't be for around another 3 years.  My original plans had I not been hospitalized in the summer the previous two years would have had me off everything this April.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Zant, lovely to read that your personal withdrawal symptoms are settling down.

 

I'm very sorry to learn about the medical inattention that your grandmother has experienced. Frustrating and heartbreaking.

 

Please be very cautious with your reductions of Depakote Sprinkles. You've got enough going on without adding the severe symptoms of a rapid "taper."

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Link to comment

Zant, lovely to read that your personal withdrawal symptoms are settling down.

 

I'm very sorry to learn about the medical inattention that your grandmother has experienced. Frustrating and heartbreaking.

 

Please be very cautious with your reductions of Depakote Sprinkles. You've got enough going on without adding the severe symptoms of a rapid "taper."

 

I haven't reduced the dose of the Depakote Sprinkles at all.  I'm just trying to get off the Klonopin and I'm on about day 10 of my drop from 2.625 mg to 2.5 mg.  It took longer to learn than expected but it was just yesterday I found out that my grandmother cannot even receive chemotherapy because her cancer has spread too much.  They have not even told my grandmother the results yet.  Only my mother and I know the results and they said it was up to my mother to decide whether to tell her.  So I'm extremely depressed about this because now the doctors have guaranteed a horrible death sentence for her because they took way too long to get through the BS insurance / paperwork etc.  I only slept about 4 hours last night.  I'm not sure if the insomnia is from withdrawals or just from being depressed.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

I'm very sorry to learn about your grandmother. That is very difficult news for you and your family. 

 

Be gentle with yourself.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

Last night I made my first reduction from 2.5 mg of Klonopin to 2.375 mg of Klonopin.  I have only been averaging about 6 hours of sleep for the past few weeks even at 2.5 mg though.  I am afraid that as I climb lower towards 2 mg that I will lose my ability to sleep again which was what happened in 2015.  This time I promised myself to not go inpatient.  My grandmother is still alive but her condition is worsening as a result of continued poor decisions from my mother, uncle, doctors and nursing staff.  I don't know how her death with ultimately affect me.  I don't think the Depakote Sprinkles are going to be strong enough to keep my emotions numbed for an event like that.  I ultimately feel hopeless about all of this.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Zant, a 5% reduction in klonopin sounds like a reasonable, conservative reduction. I hope it goes well for you. If you have some "bumps in the road", you can always make your next reduction smaller than 5%.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Link to comment

Zant, a 5% reduction in klonopin sounds like a reasonable, conservative reduction. I hope it goes well for you. If you have some "bumps in the road", you can always make your next reduction smaller than 5%.

 

My grandmother passed away about 24 hours ago due to a final act of medical negligence and I'm a complete wreck.  I'm having tons of crying spells and feel like my nervous system is shot.  I got assaulted by my stepfather (who has always been violent to me and others and has dementia) again but I defended myself successfully since I was so angry at his disrepect towards my grandmother's death that he wound up in the emergency room.  I was told to take my final medication and try to get some sleep but I only got 2 hours of sleep.  Unfortunately, my stepfather is back home and just keeps repeatedly saying he is going to call the cops on me and wants to kill me like a broken record.  So once again, he isn't in jail or in a psych ward and we're way into the double digits for times where he has attacked me with no legal consequences.

 

My mother is a complete wreck too and I am trying to get her to just put work aside and relax because I don't need her hurt.  I feel guilty that I didn't take control over my grandmother's health care and left it up to my mother and uncle who mismanaged things almost as bad as the insurance companies and medical staff.  I told the doctor the other day during visiting hours that I didn't think it would be wise to give my grandmother benzodiazepines and fluoroquinolones in addition to the pain killers and blood thinner she was taking.  I explained my situation with psychiatric medications and withdrawal but of course, the doctor didn't listen to me, gave her the medication and then she died in the middle of the night.

 

I really hope I can stabilize.  During one of my final times visiting my grandmother she told me not to cry and be upset about her.  She said she lived a long life and that she'll be dead and at peace soon.  She said she felt bad for me and I should do whatever I can to get out of the crazy house I'm in and move far away on my own.  I wish it were that simple.  There's so much to do ahead that I'm just stuck at a point of inaction.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Condolences on losing your grandmother.  From what you've written, it sure sounds as if she was a great lady who cared about you a lot and wanted the best for you.  It's hard to lose someone who loves you that way. I'm sorry your home situation is so chaotic that you can't fully relax and let go.  Be gentle with yourself.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Condolences on losing your grandmother.  From what you've written, it sure sounds as if she was a great lady who cared about you a lot and wanted the best for you.  It's hard to lose someone who loves you that way. I'm sorry your home situation is so chaotic that you can't fully relax and let go.  Be gentle with yourself.

 

Thank you for your kind words and I hope all is well with you scallywag.  Fortunately, things have improved for me.  There is more stability in the household.  I'm at the point where I'm actually oversleeping.  I may have slept up to 20 hours on Saturday and around 14 hours today.  I've decided that tonight I will make a reduction in Klonopin from 2.375 mg to 2.25 mg.  I hope I can resolve a pharmacy issue they claim that they do not have a refill for my anafranil ready yet because I do not have a pdoc appointment for another 2 months.  The pdoc was supposed to leave multiple refills for all meds at the pharmacy but for some reason that doesn't appear to be the case.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

That sounds like a small reduction, 2.375 mg Klonopin to 2.25 mg, 5.2%. I know little to nothing about tapering benzodiazepine medication and so can't confirm whether that makes sense.

 

How are you doing after the change?

 

What happened with the anafranil prescription, pharmacy and pDoc?

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Link to comment

That sounds like a small reduction, 2.375 mg Klonopin to 2.25 mg, 5.2%. I know little to nothing about tapering benzodiazepine medication and so can't confirm whether that makes sense.

 

How are you doing after the change?

 

What happened with the anafranil prescription, pharmacy and pDoc?

 

For benzos, it's somewhat of a large reduction if following the Ashton Manual.  There's going to come a point in time again where I will have to go down by .01 mg per day using liquid titration.  For now, I think holding at 2.25 mg for a month is ok since I'm sleeping at least 6 hours per night.  I didn't have to see the pdoc and I managed to get all of my meds for another 30 days.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

I feel like I'm going out of my mind again.  I think my hours of sleep per night were something like 16, 12, 12, 3 and 4 for the last five days (including last night).  Yesterday was really rough on me but I felt more depressed than anything.  Today I feel too nervous, energetic and frightened.  I haven't done any medication reductions in over 2 weeks, so I'm not sure why this is going on.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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I only got 1 hour of sleep, so that's why I'm posting this so early.  This isn't a good sign obviously.  I'm avoiding the psych hospital at any cost but I don't know how much longer I can survive with 1 hour of sleep without updosing to 3 mg of Klonopin again and throwing in the towel on this whole trying to come off all medications thing.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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UPDATE:  I slept from 1 PM to 5 PM.  So now it looks like my sleep cycle is more of a problem than anything.  I'm not sure what to do.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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I only slept an hour again.  I didn't make any reductions or anything.  I don't know what's going on but I feel horrible.

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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Hang in there Zant, I haven't read your whole topic but I can empathise with the sleep problem. I have chronic insomnia and can go for days without any sleep before finally starting to sleep again. Often there are no obvious triggers and it is crippling but always goes back to 'normal' which for me is 2 or 3 60-90 minute sleeps a night.  Then I will have a 'sleepy' couple of days when I go to bed for a nap 3 or 4 times a day. I need those naps and sleep is sleep!  I don't worry about not sleeping, and use mindfulness in bed. Rest is important even if you are not alsleep. 

Your sleep will most likely get better by itself. Try not to change anything and hang in there. 

 

If you haven't seen this topic you might find it interesting

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/53-tips-to-help-sleep-so-many-of-us-have-that-awful-withdrawal-insomnia/?view=findpost&p=153733&hl=amber

 

I hope you it improves for you soon. . 

**I am not a medical professional, if in doubt please consult a doctor with withdrawal knowledge.

 

 

Different drugs occasionally (mostly benzos) 1976 - 1981 (no problem)

1993 - 2002 in and out of hospital. every type of drug + ECT. Staring with seroxat

2002  effexor. 

Tapered  March 2012 to March 2013, ending with 5 beads.

Withdrawal April 2013 . Reinstated 5 beads reduced to 4 beads May 2013

Restarted taper  Nov 2013  

OFF EFFEXOR Feb 2015    :D 

Tapered atenolol and omeprazole Dec 2013 - May 2014

 

Tapering tramadol, Feb 2015 100mg , March 2015 50mg  

 July 2017 30mg.  May 15 2018 25mg

Taking fish oil, magnesium, B12, folic acid, bilberry eyebright for eye pressure. 

 

My story http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4199-hello-mammap-checking-in/page-33

 

Lesson learned, slow down taper at lower doses. Taper no more than 10% of CURRENT dose if possible

 

 

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Hang in there Zant, I haven't read your whole topic but I can empathise with the sleep problem. I have chronic insomnia and can go for days without any sleep before finally starting to sleep again. Often there are no obvious triggers and it is crippling but always goes back to 'normal' which for me is 2 or 3 60-90 minute sleeps a night.  Then I will have a 'sleepy' couple of days when I go to bed for a nap 3 or 4 times a day. I need those naps and sleep is sleep!  I don't worry about not sleeping, and use mindfulness in bed. Rest is important even if you are not alsleep. 

Your sleep will most likely get better by itself. Try not to change anything and hang in there. 

 

If you haven't seen this topic you might find it interesting

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/53-tips-to-help-sleep-so-many-of-us-have-that-awful-withdrawal-insomnia/?view=findpost&p=153733&hl=amber

 

I hope you it improves for you soon. . 

 

Thank you for replying.  I see you have been polydrugged for quite a long time like me so you definitely understand what is going on.  I should really read that whole Tips to sleep thread.  I managed to get 4 hours of sleep last night but now I'm getting myoclonic jerks when I try to nap and it is freaking me out.  I was just wondering if there was a particular reason you highlighted amber on that page?

I've been on dozens of psychiatric medications starting with being forced to take Prozac back as a minor in the mid 1990s.  All doctors would cold turkey me from medications.  I did not learn about withdrawal until the mid 2000's by reading Dr. Breggin's books and finding sites similar to this one.  I had one successful full cleansing from medication in 2007 and began to recover from some of the iatrogenic damages.  I started to drink alcohol in 2008 to try and recover from PSSD and then about 6 months later, I lost my ability to sleep and was put into an inpatient psychiatric facility and redrugged.  The only med combination that has allowed me to sleep was 1250 mg of Depakote ER and 3 mg Klonopin.  However, my quality of life is terrible on these meds.  I want to try to get off everything now once again.  I have failed a couple of times trying to come off these meds recently but will try again once I can find a psychiatrist who understands withdrawal and can support me.

 

UPDATE:

 

I have not consumed any alcohol in over 10 years.  May 2019 - I started to reduce Anafranil very slowly so I can see a PSSD specialist.  I also plan on trying stem cell therapy to repair my iatrogenic brain damage.

 

Current meds:  1125 mg Depakote Sprinkles, 3 mg Klonopin

 

Current side effects:  PSSD, insomnia, odd sleep schedule, anhedonia, lack of motivation, cognitive issues, memory loss, hair loss, weight gain, dry mouth

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